Stuck cohabiting? Help!!

[Pollydarling]

Not AIBU as such but really need the traffic

DH and I separated, still living together with 3 children, he is main breadwinner both on mortgage. I will need UC top up when moved out. AIBU (or is this not allowed) to claim UC as single parent now as it takes 5 weeks ish to begin payment and I absolutely cannot afford to move out then wait that long. He will refuse to help. He is refusing to move out whilst house sells even though youngest is 4mo and eldest is ND albeit high functioning. Yes I could stay as long as possible but the situation is severely impacting my mental health particularly being in the post natal period. He has stopped doing anything to 'help'
Yes Ive stopped washing his clothes/cooking for him etc but thats what's adding to my stress is the purposeful mess.

It depends on how separate your lives are. Are you paying half the mortgage and do you have all separate bills? Any joint savings?

Yes you can claim, separation is clear. Just be honest on the form and get your 50% council tax paid too.

Why would she get her council tax paid?

I feel your pain. Some people don’t believe how some men behave or that it’s not as simple as leaving / asking them to leave. I’ve looked into this before. You can claim yes, they will most likely scrutinise your finances though, ring them and speak to them and ask exactly what you have to do to be considered separated and don’t deviate from that because they don’t mess about with benefit fraud. You can find the info online, you just need to make sure that you follow all the rules, no shared food bill etc (I can’t remember all the rules) I was too nervous to do it to be honest.

Go online and speak to Citizen's Advice, they can guide you through the claiming process and what you're entitled to.

Thank you, some helpful advice here. Re bills - they have remained as theyve always been, he pays bills and I do top up shops, all subscriptions, kids clothes, birthdays, holidays, clubs, christmas etc literally every other expense.
So he obviously isn't paying me child maintence as hes covering his share so do I just food shop for me and the kids to keep it separate? His card is linked to Tesco so I just buy food and we make what we want from it with our own personal top up shops. I buy alot in bulk from amazon myself like shampoo, toilet roll

I have almost 3k saved personally and 2k in a business account in my name but is money that he has earned, I might just keep that though as he has no legal right to it